Spatial Analysis Lab,
Department of Geography,
Rhetoric House,
NUI Maynooth,
County Kildare

E-mail:
stephen.rigney.2011@nuim.ie
clondalkin.oral.history@gmail.com

Biography:

I began my third level education in DIT Rathmines in 1993 and, after an extended interregnum involving several years of work, adventure and romance around North and South America, I eventually graduated from Portland State University in 2002 with a BA (high honours) in Chinese literature and language. I went on to earn an MA (first honours) in international studies in the University of Limerick, for which I wrote a dissertation on discursive representations of the environment of the Tibetan Plateau. Prior to enrolling as a PhD student, I also carried out independent research on Chinese investment patterns in Ethiopia.

My day job is as a civil servant in the Houses of the Oireachtas, where I have worked since 2005 as a parliamentary reporter. Prior to that I spent almost two years in China on two separate occasions, first as a Chinese language student and subsequently teaching content based English classes to Tibetan students at high school senior equivalent grade. Over the years, I have also worked in almost every corner of the hotel and catering business, from dishwasher to bar and banquet manager.

I have volunteered for several years with Comhlámh, the Irish association of development workers, first as a member of the editorial collective for its campaigning and development education magazine, Focus, and later as board member and chairperson.

Thesis Title:

Oral History and the Production of a Dublin Suburb

Description of Project:

My research uses oral history to explore the uneven development of the Dublin suburb of Clondalkin over the past 50 years. The research will follow two lines of inquiry, first, into Clondalkin's transformation from a rural village into one of the largest population centres in the state; and, second, into what it means to live in a place that has been so unevenly produced by the ebb and flow of capital. I approach the question of Clondalkin's production as a hegemonic struggle which both springs from and feeds into contending accumulation strategies, and where the specific circuits of capital in which Clondalkin is imbricated and the sense of place that people construct form two sides of the same story.

Supervisor:

Professor Mark Boyle

Presentations:

"Ethiopia eyes China: The EPRDF's strategic manoeuvres during a period of transition." Workshop on China and the Transformation of the International Political Economy, University of Sussex, 17 May 2008.
"Washington, Beijing and Addis Ababa: Is there a new consensus on development?" Association for Chinese Studies in Ireland 3rd annual conference, 24 May 2010
"The Production of a Dublin Suburb." Postgraduate seminar, Department of Geography, NUIM, 7 April 2011.
"Oral History and the Production of a Dublin Suburb." Conference of Irish Geographers annual conference, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, 7 May 2011.

Membership of Professional Bodies:

Geographical Association of Ireland